Fifth wheel vs. a tree

Rain is a good thing, as a Luke Bryan country song says. It makes the beautiful greenery we enjoy in places such as Northern Arizona. It also creates mud, something we try to avoid as the owners of a truck without four-wheel drive. (We intentionally ordered our dually that way from the factory to save on gas mileage and gears to maintain.)

After three-and-a-half wonderful sunny days boondocking at a Boondockers Welcome site in Northern Arizona, light rain and drizzle turned into something more substantial, thanks to the remnants of Cyclone Priscilla. 

We were parked near a gravel drive, so we didn’t think much of the situation — until we loaded into Gulliver in an attempt to go visit our friends Neil and Leanna and got stuck in the mud. 

Gulliver needs a tow … again

Rain continued to pour as we tried to determine a way out of the muddy mess. Our host heard us revving the truck engine and came over to say hi, as we hadn’t met him yet. He offered to pull us out with his Ford F-350 4x4 truck. 

Lew went to get his truck, and we retrieved the tow strap we had invested in after another time of getting both Gulliver and Tagalong stuck. Bob attached it to both trucks, and Lew climbed into his vehicle to take out the slack. With that done, Bob crawled into Gulliver.

I stood in the rain to communicate between the two drivers, a difficult chore given the revving engines and the sound of the precipitation. Lew’s truck successfully pulled ours, but our highway tires slipped in the mud, drawing Gulliver closer to the trailer and making Bob and me nervous.

The three of us reassessed the situation. We relocated where the tow strap attached on each vehicle, and Bob closed his side mirrors. The second tow drew the truck even closer to Tagalong. Something had to change. 

We had Lew back up and reposition his truck in another location to tow Gulliver toward the gravel drive and away from the trailer. This time, it worked. With Gulliver out of the mud and on gravel, we thanked Lew and loaded up to visit our friends, an hour later than planned. I peeled off my saturated raincoat only to find my shirt sleeves wet. Apparently, the jacket wasn’t designed for an hour of downpour.

After a wonderful time with our friends, we returned in the dark, with hopes of getting the trailer out the next day. 

Getting the RV out of a sticky situation

Not wanting to get the truck stuck again, we took serious measures to prevent that. Bob cut and laid dead Juniper branches in the anticipated path of the truck tires for grip in the sloppy mud mess. He sent me on a hunt to find lava rocks on the property that we could use to provide traction under the truck when starting to tow the trailer.

I dragged my bucket around like Igor in “Frankenstein,” watching for young prickly pear cactus along the way and discovering wild mushrooms in the process. After two bucket loads of rocks, we had accumulated enough to provide a good grip for the truck tires.

Convinced we were prepared to move the trailer from its dirt perch to the gravel drive, we connected it to Gulliver. Then we went over our plan, wondering aloud if we’d be able to clear a small Juniper tree en route. Our original plan, before the rain had turned dry ground into peanut butter, was to pull forward and then back Gulliver onto the gravel drive to line us up to leave. That was no longer an option. 

I was convinced Bob could clear the tree. He wasn’t so sure. We knew momentum would be key and discussed being willing to scratch the side of the trailer to keep from getting stuck. Arizona racing stripes never hurt anything. 

Equipped with walkie-talkies, Bob climbed into Gulliver and I tried to find a decent place to stand. From my vantage point, I could see the tree — until the trailer blocked my view.

Bob pulled out. Everything looked good, so I told him to keep going. He stepped on the gas and succeeded in getting Tagalong onto the gravel driveway. But he heard a loud crunch in the process. 

I thought we had made it just fine. But as I approached the rear of the trailer, I noticed a tire mark awfully close to the tree. I moved nearer to investigate and found our plastic trailer fender lying on the ground in pieces, along with a light cover that had been ripped off the side of the rig.

Examining the trailer revealed remnants of the tree jammed into every crevice they could fit. The bottom right corner of the entry door had been bent up, as had the bottom right of where the fender had been attached. 

As we inspected the damage, we found ourselves grateful that it was mostly cosmetic. It hurt our pride more than anything. The situation could have been much worse. 

An important debriefing

After leaving the property, we conversed about what we did wrong and what we would have done differently. The problem came down to being in a hurry. As full-time RVers, we know that most mistakes happen when we’re either tired or rushing. 

Our kids were coming up to meet us at our next destination about an hour away, and we wanted to get there before them. We could have waited longer for the ground to dry out, as the sun had cleared the clouds and was working its magic. Or we could have called our Coach-Net roadside assistance service to tow us out, even though it could have taken an hour or longer for a tech to arrive. 

It doesn’t pay to rush as RVers. We learned that lesson early on when we first marred the same side of our rig on our very first venture out. It hit home harder after this. 

Regardless, we had a wonderful time with our kids and granddaughter. Bob was able to clean the mud streaks off the side of the trailer, making the damage less noticeable. He also banged out some dents and fixed the door frame so that we could open the door. We’ll get a new fender and fix the light. And we’ll take our time in the future — and not stay on dirt in Northern Arizona if any rain is in the forecast.

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